Buenos Aires, Argentina - Beef and Tango

Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show 

Buenos Aires! The name alone sounds exciting. We had two different stays in Buenos Aires, two nights before and two nights after going to Iguazu Falls. We stayed in the same place, Hotel Marbella in the city center, but had 2 different experiences. It seems silly that weather would play such a role in our view of a city, but it did and continues to wherever we visit. The first 2 days it drizzled most of the time and the skies were cloudy. After those two days, we looked at Buenos Aires as a big, dreary city. The last two days there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we looked at Buenos Aires as a bright, fun city.
Buenos Aires is a mix of old historic buildings and 21st century technology and architecture. With almost 13 million people in the city, there are people from every socioeconomic background. Despite all the warnings we received about dishonest cab drivers and theft, the people we encountered were very fun loving and helpful.
Noah's camera died and was buried in Buenos Aires. As long as we are on that subject, the losses (all self inflicted - nothing stolen) to date include: 2 lost hats, 1 dead camera, 1 lost baseball, 1 lost book, 1 broken toe, 3 lost pens, an intermittent working PSP, and much to Jennifer's dismay, a dead Kindle. For those of you that know Jennifer's affection for reading and her Kindle, you can understand what an impact this has had on her. Thanks to Amazon, a replacement is on it's way.
I just want to have whoever invented spray paint come to Buenos Aires and see what it has done to the historic buildings. It is very sad. I assume that due to the volatile Argentina politics and economics over the years, people have expressed their angst by spray painting their political thoughts on the buildings.
For us, Buenos Aires was a chance to catch up on work, email, phone calls, texting friends, laundry and planning for Africa. As a result, we didn't do as much sightseeing as in other places, but we did get a chance to thoroughly enjoy the beef and tango. The picture above of the three of us was after splurging a little on two filets and 1 strip steak. They were as tender and tasty as anything we have ever had.
Next up was a night of tango and music at El Viejo Almacen in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It was an incredible evening. I can't imagine how many hours Jennifer and I would need to put in to get to the point of being able to tango like they tango in Buenos Aires. We walked many neighborhoods in the city trying to get a feel for the city. We stopped at an antique fair in San Telmo, walked along the pedestrian shopping area of Avenida de Florida, and visited cathedrals and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Art). All three of us enjoyed the impressionist paintings and modern Argentina art at the museum.
One of the most interesting stops during our walks was at the Cementerio de la Recoleta. The cemetery is like walking through a city of miniature buildings. The buildings are actually tombs of famous Argentine people and families. One crypt that "housed" a family was a $3 million dollar gold-laden structure. Some of these crypts are big enough to house their own chapels for past presidents, military heroes, politicians, and other extremely wealthy families. We were given a tour by a retired history professor that knew about every crypt in the cemetery. He even showed us the burial site of Eva "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Peron.
Buenos Argentina was the last stop on our tour of South America. We leave with mixed emotions since we thoroughly enjoyed Argentina but are also looking forward to continuing our travels in Africa.
*** Final Thoughts and Observations About Argentina ***
It has been difficult to leave each of the three countries that we have visited so far for different reasons, but here we go with our thoughts on Argentina.

• Argentina, like Chile is a country of extreme geographical diversity. If you travel there, you will find deserts, vineyards, beaches, lakes, volcanoes, forests, fjords, granite peaks, a large city (Buenos Aires) and glaciers. The marine life, including whales, penguins, and sea lions is fascinating.
• Argentina has had a volatile economy over the years, experiencing a crash in the 2001 - 2002 time period. They have recovered to a point where it is now more expensive to travel in Argentina than it is in Peru or Chile.
• Argentina charges tourists more for entrance fees to National Parks and flights than they do for their own residents. For example, a domestic flight in Argentina costs foreigners almost 3 times as much as an Argentina resident.
• Argentina is a very well developed country that has only 30% of their roads paved. Part of this might have to do with the many remote regions of Patagonia. I don't know how to explain the rest.
• The people are a friendly, helpful, proud sort that reminds us of Italians. The other thing that reminds us of Italy is the Argentineans love of pizza and pasta. Most restaurants from inexpensive cafes to expensive steak houses offer up many pizza and pasta dishes. Noah is the resident expert on pizza ratings in Argentina.
• Some interesting facts about Argentina include: adult literacy rate of 97%, population below the poverty line of 51%, and the number of psychologists per person is the highest in the world.
• Argentina has a lot to offer if you are willing to invest the time and geography to experience the diversity from parrots to penguins, from north to south.

To view our slide show of Buenos Aires, click on the following link ==> Buenos Aires, Argentina Slide Show.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina - Well Worth the Effort to Get There

Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show

This past August, I had the pleasure of driving with our older son, Aaron out to Williams College for his sophomore year. Aaron and I decided to take the Canadian route and visit Niagara Falls on the way. The visit to Niagara Falls was the first time for both of us. It was a spectacular way to spend an afternoon in route to Massachusetts.
Flash forward a couple months during a Jennifer, Noah, Jim travel plans meeting in a Buenos Aires hotel room on how to spend the last 5 days of our stay in South America. Jennifer voted to go to Iguazu Falls. Noah voted to stay in Buenos Aires. This left the deciding vote up to me. Let's see, an 18 hour bus ride to the Falls, spend one night there and then return on another 18 hour bus ride or see the sites of a dynamic Buenos Aires.
Like any good husband should, I voted for two 18 hour bus rides. Sorry Noah - or should I say, thank you Jennifer. No offense to Niagara Falls, but they don't really compare to Iguazu Falls. I don't have all the statistics in front of me, but the one that sticks in my mind is that Iguazu Falls stretches approximately 1.3 miles across. That is why pictures just don't do it justice. You can take picture after picture of the falls, but you can't get them all in one photo. If you want to see a video clip that does a better job of showing a portion, but not all of the Falls, click on the following link ==> Iguazu Falls Video. Be sure to have the sound on your computer on as the sound is almost as impressive as the falls themselves.
Argentina has done a very nice job of keeping the falls in a natural setting as a part of Parque Nacional Iguazu, but giving visitors many up close views. They have built paths and catwalks, but when you are viewing the falls, there are no hotels or restaurants to be seen. The walks through the jungle and viewing fauna and wildlife are an added bonus.
We took a boat ride "into the falls". The sound is deafening and the shower/mist from the falls is invigorating as you get absolutely soaked. The only downer of the day was the fact that we paid a little extra for a hotel that was highly recommended by the Lonely Planet guidebook, which was written in 2005. Let's just say that the last 3 years must have been bad years for this hotel as the humidity of the jungle made for a very musty room in a hotel well past it's glory days.
Back to the 2 long bus rides. Don't feel too sorry for us. The rides to and from the falls were on Via Bariloche, a bus company that knows more than a few things about service. In fact, I am sitting on the bus right now writing this post. The bus has wi-fi via satellite, the seats recline fully into a bed (Jennifer is sleeping to my left and Noah is sleeping to my right) and we are on our 3rd movie, 2nd meal and I was just brought a scotch. Why fly?
To view the slide show of Iguazu Falls, click on the following link ==>  Iguazu Falls, Argentina Slide Show.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina - Marine Life

Puerto Madryn, Argentina Slide Show

Click on the picture of the penguin to the left to have him/her (I have no real way of telling) introduce this blog. If all the technology works out correctly, a video should pop up. If you have issues with the video, just look at the penguin and imagine him walking.
Anyway, we decided to head north to warm up a little. I know that sounds strange for any Minnesotans out there that head south to warm up, but that is the way it works in the southern hemisphere. A 20 hour bus ride took us from El Calafate to Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Puerto Madryn is on the east coast of Argentina, about about an 18 hour bus ride south of Buenos Aires. Due to the size and many unpaved roads of Argentina, we now gauge distances in terms of bus ride times. Argentina is a very developed country, so why are only 30% of their roads paved?
Puerto Madryn is a nice oceanfront city with beaches, good food, and plenty to do if you are into marine wildlife. The first day there, we walked out to the fishing pier to get a good look at the city and much to our surprise, there were 2 Southern Right Whales within 20 feet of the pier. These whales are up to 50 feet long and weigh up to 55 tons. There they were, right by the pier! We rented a car and drove around Peninsula Valdez to see more wildlife and take a boat tour to get even closer to the whales. We got so close that Noah got wet when a whale that was right by our boat blew water out of one of his two blowholes. We could have reached over the side of our boat and touched one of these creatures!
Next up were the Elephant Seals, also found on Peninsula Valdez. They don't move very much, but were very interesting to see and learn about. Without getting into too much detail, the alpha males are polygamists who have harems in the 15 to 20 range. In many of the pictures, you will see one very large elephant seal (the alpha male) and many midsize females, and one pup (smaller black elephant seal) by each mother. We were fortunate to see what happens when an "alpha male wannabe" tries to move into an alpha males harem. Let's just say the alpha male sent the wannabe back out to sea very quickly. To view a video of the penguins, click on the following link ==> Puerto Madryn Penguin Video.
The Magellan Penguins on the other hand are monogamists. We saw plenty of these penguins on a trip south of Puerto Madryn to visit the penguin colony of Punta Tombo. There is no real way to describe this "colony" other than to say that there are 175,000 pairs of penguins in this colony. Yes, for you math majors out there, that would be 350,000 penguins! Never having seen a penguin in person, this colony was quite different than my previous conception of penguins. These penguins are small (about knee high to me), live in pairs (1 husband and 1 wife) and build their homes in dugout holes below tumble weeds in the Argentine desert. Take a look at the pictures, it is quite a site to see.
To view pictures from our Puerto Madryn slide show, click on the following link ==> Puerto Madryn, Argentina Slide Show.

E Calafate, Argentina - Sheep, Glaciers, and Barbeque

El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show

We had an uneventful border crossing from Chile into Argentina and ended up in El Calafate. Crossing the border did not change the scenery as Chile and Argentina border each other in Patagonia. The main reason that most visitors come to El Calafate is to visit the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and the Perito Moreno Glacier in particular.
After staying in El Calafate for a few nights, we found out that there is much more to the town than the glaciers. The town reminded us of Pucon, Chile with its nice downtown area and beautiful countryside with ranches, lakes, and mountains. We stayed at the nicest youth hostel, Hostal del Glaciar Libertador that we have stayed at on this trip. Noah had a bunk bed set to himself, so he was happy.
We took a full day trip to the National Park. Along the way, we stopped at a 25,000 sheep ranch. The sheep were friendly enough to let us pet and hold them. Actually, you don't want to hold them too long as they don't smell very good. We also came across flamingos, horses, cows, condors, and on rare occasions, other humans. One of the humans that we met was a woman who is French, lived in Edina, MN for 7 years and then Belgium and is now studying in Argentina. Like everyone else on our van but us, she spoke at least 3 languages fluently.
The highlight was our visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is not only impressive in size, but also color and sound. The parts of the glacier that appear white are due to the air bubbles that allow long wavelengths of light to be absorbed. In the areas of the glacier that are more compacted due to the weight on the top pushing ice particles together, blue light (short wavelengths) are transmitted. The periodic booming sounds come from large ice chunks that fall off the glacier and crash into Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina. Okay, there is your lesson for the day.
At the end of a long day sightseeing, it was time to try out the barbeque that the Argentineans are famous for. Many restaurants have beef and lamb seasoned perfectly slow cooking over open fire pits. I had an all you can eat buffet smorgasbord one night and Jennifer and I had filets that were every bit as good as Manny's in Minneapolis. After all the bread and cheese over the last 5 weeks, it was great to sit down to a wonderful steak and a great glass of Argentinean wine.
To see a slide show of El Calafate, Argentina, click on the following link ==> El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show.